


The New Swimmer

by killallthetitans



Category: Free!
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, New Student, Original Character(s), Rating May Change, Warnings May Change, iwatobi swim club - Freeform, the new girl joins the swim club
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-17
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-13 14:39:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2154330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killallthetitans/pseuds/killallthetitans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natsumi Kamuro has just transferred to Iwatobi high school. Her parents tell her to join a club/sport but nothing appeals to her. Until she finds out about the swim club. The captain of the swim team, Rin Matsuoka, doesn't know if she is strong enough to compete, especially on an all-male swim team that competes with other teams that are all male.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting the Team

**Author's Note:**

> Natsumi Kamuro is a sophomore in high school. She is 5'2" and very slim. Before she transferred schools, she was a gymnast who often swam to keep herself strong. Moriko has shoulder length, dark brown, straight hair. She is a very quiet person who excels in academics 
> 
> This is an AU where Rin is the captain of the Iwatobi swim club and never went to Samezuka

**_Natsumi POV_ **

 

The bell rang and everybody dashed out of their seats, eager to go home. _'Since I have a while until my mom arrives'_ I thought  _'I might as well look for a club to join'_ I thought about what my parents had said the night before. They had told me that I need to make friends, and even though I usually didn't agree with them, they were right. It was my third week at Iwatobi High and I still hadn't made a single friend. They had told me that I needed to find something to join, a sports team or a club or just  _something_ , by the end of the week, or they would choose for me. I do love my parents, but they feel as though I need to participate in at least 3 activities  _plus_ achieving better-than-average grades. 

I only had two days left of the week, so I figured I should probably try to find an activity that suits me. I walked up to the school's activity board that was hanging outside of the office.  _'Track? No.. Mathematics club? Definitely not. I wish they had gymnastics.'_ As I continued searching the board, a girl around my age with maroon hair walked up to me.

"Hello! I'm Gou Matsuoka. You're new here right?" She asked 

"Yes, I transferred here a few weeks ago. I'm Natsumi Kamuro"

"Welcome to Iwatobi! Wow! That must be hard, coming to a new school in the middle of the year. So are you looking for something to join?" She motioned to the board and I could tell that she had something in mind for me. 

"Yeah, my parents told me I had to find something to be apart of by the end of the week." 

Gou smiled widely "I have an idea for you! The Iwatobi swim club! Do you swim?" She seemed very excited to find someone who didn't walk away after telling them about the club.

"I didn't know Iwatobi had a swim club. Much less one that allowed girls to participate." I knew of swim teams around the country that competed in meets against each other, but they were all all-male swim teams.

"Well, our team hasn't had any girls on it before, but we are willing to give it a shot! We are in need of more swimmers. Nobody seems to appreciate it anymore" SHe looked down sadly.

"So, you aren't on the team?" To admit it, I was actually interested in this swim club.

"No, I'm sort of the manager. My brother is the captain of the team."

"Well, I'd love to give it a try." Gou was ecstatic. She grabbed my arm and pulled me along to the pool.

Since it was the beginning of March, it was still a bit cold outside. Gou lead me out to the school pool. It was obvious the school did not take much part in helping the swim team. The other schools I had been to in the past usually had pools inside, so the swimmers could practice all year round, instead of only in the warmer months. As we walked out, I saw four students warming up.  _'Are they really going to swim in this weather?'_  One of the boys saw Gou and waved. He was tall, with brown hair and green eyes.

"Hey Gou! Who's your friend?" He looked at me and smiled. I, of course, blushed. "I'm Makoto Tachibana."

"Her name is Natsumi. I found her looking at the activity board and decided to show her our team!"

Another guy walked up and stood next to Makoto, "You fell for it? Gou has been bribing people to check out our team since it started." This boy had dark hair and was not quite as tall as Makoto. "I'm Haruka. Haruka Nanase, but most call me Haru." He reached out to shake my hand.

"Hello, I'm Natsumi Kamuro." I took his hand and shook, and he smiled down at me. "So what did Gou here bribe you with?" He laughed and playfully punched the girl in the shoulder.

"I didn't bribe her! And that was only one time!"

"I'm actually interested in possibly joining the team. I used to swim at my old school when gymnastics season wasn't going on. It wasn't competitive though, just me."

At this point, the other two boys had joined the group. One was short, maybe a few inches taller than me, with orange-blonde hair. The other was tall with blue hair. He had glasses and something about him seemed more....sophisticated that the others. "Hello. I'm Rei, and this is Nagisa." He turned to Harka "Do you think Rin would let a girl on our team? He is very serious about winning this next competition." 

Gou glared at him "I'm sure he'll be willing to try anything, being as you need one more swimmer to actually be able to compete. Where is he anyways?"

"Inside the locker room. He went back to get his sweatshirt because it's so damn cold out." As Rei was saying this, the door from the locker room burst open, and out walked a student with maroon hair, the exact same color as Gou's.  _  
_

 _So he must be the captain._  

"Hey Rin! Look what I found! A member for your team!" The girl was obviously beyond excited about this, probably because they were not allowed to compete without another member.

"A girl? You know that the competition is all male and they are much stronger than she seems to be." He stared at me though, curiosity in his eyes.

This comment made me mad, women can do anything men can do, and just as well if not better. "I think I can handle anything you throw at me. I'm quite strong and could be beneficial to your team."

This Rin smirked a bit, but seemed impressed that I spoke up for myself. "Alright, I'll give you a chance. You got your suit?"

Luckily, I did. I had my bag still packed from when we moved, when I could swim after school. I used it enough, so I never took it out and forgot about it once we moved. "Yeah. Am I going against someone or on my own?"

"You'll find out. Locker room's over there" He pointed to the small building he had just walked out of. I walked over to it and went inside. The place smelled like it hadn't been cleaned in 10 years. I found an unoccupied locker, set my bag on the bench, and pulled out my swimsuit. It was one piece and all black, save for a dark purple stripe going over the shoulder diagonally. I had no swim cap, but did have a pair of goggles I could use. I changed into the suit, and put on a zip up hoodie over it, not bothering to put my jeans on over the suit.

I walked out back to the group. I overheard a bit of what Haruka was saying to Rin. "...win, and she might be good. I mean, she was a gymnast so she's stro-" He had noticed I was there and gave a smile. "Okay, do you want to warm up first? I'll be swimming against you after we see your technique a bit." 

I nodded my head and walked over to near the bleachers. ' _These should work for a beam'_ I figured I would warm up my muscles as I do with gymnastics. I placed my hands on the lowest bench of the bleachers, and lifted myself into an easy handstand. As I bent my legs back to stand on the bench, I noticed Rin watching my every move. I hopped down lightly and began to stretch my arms. After a few more minutes of stretching, I felt ready. 

"Okay...Rin was it? What am I swimming?"

"Yes. Swim whatever you feel strongest with, 3 laps." He began walking to the edge of the pool next to where I was standing. 

I peered into the pool. It looked pretty clean, but a bit green from lack of chemicals over the winter.  _'Oh well, here goes nothing'_ I unzipped my swatshirt and laid it on the bench. The cold air flowed through my whole body. I grabbed the goggles and put them on as I walked back to the edge and jumped swiftly in. 

"Holy shit that's cold!" I almost screamed as I came back up. Haruka laughed "Well you are the first to use it this year."

My limbs were frozen with the cold as I started my first lap. This water had to be only 40 degrees! I chose the best stroke I knew, the breaststroke. It was my personal favorite because I felt incredibly fast. As I got to the end of the third lap, I jumped out of the water. 

"Not so fast, we're putting you up against Haru. You two are going to swim 1 lap, front crawl"

Instead of becoming used to the warmer air, I jumped back into the pool, which was not as cold as the first time. Haruka was not far behind. He dived into the pool, as graceful as a dolphin. When he came up for air, he was smiling like a kid on Christmas morning. He swam around a bit before coming back to where I was treading water. 

"You ready yet?" Rin was getting impatient, most likely because it was so cold out.

Haruka laughed "Yeah I'm ready. Just call when." 

To be quite honest, I was really nervous. I mean, an hour ago I was in the school looking at an activities board and now I'm outside, in a freezing cold pool, racing against a guy who has had loads of practice swimming. My subconscious self must really want to be on this swim team, or maybe it was just the thought of being away from my parents as much as possible. They were way too demanding. And this team seemed _very_ serious about competitions and practices, so why not?

Rin started counting down, a whistle in his mouth and a timer in his hand. "3 - 2 - 1" He blew the whistle and I pushed off the wall, not even caring about what Haruka was doing. The front crawl was definitely not my strongest stroke, but it was't my weakest either. As I got to the other edge of the pool and turned under the water, I could see that my competetor was farther ahead. _'Well at least I'm not too far behind'_ I sped up as much as I could, which wasn't much as I was already giving my all. When I got to the other edge and pulled myself out, and got my swearshirt off of the bench. "So how did I do?" Nagisa and Gou looked impressed, Rei had no expression whatsoever, and Haruka was drying himself off.

Rin walked over to me "Well, you obviously need some practice. Your turns are a little loose, but you aren't all that bad. Welcome to the swim team."

 


	2. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsumi is running laps again at practice

_**Natsumi POV** _

 

 

"Ugh why am I the only one  _running_ laps instead of  _swimming_ laps?" I had just finished my 38th lap around the pool. My teammates, save for Rin, were all swimming. I had not been in the pool even half as much as they guys. Not to mention, it was hot out. I had been on the team,and continuously training, for almost three months now. I was really glad to have my parents off my back, because I had finally found friends. I hadn't mentioned that all but one were guys, because they would have a big issue with that, but nonetheless, I had friends. Almost three months had shown me a few things about the guys. Haru loved the water. No.  _Craved_ the water is a better description. Nagisa was really funny, and was best friends with Rei, who was a bookworm! We bonded over that quality. Makoto was quiet, but was insanely funny. And Rin,  _Rin_. He was very competitive with tournaments, and though I had not been in one yet, he trained me as if I was. He definitely made fun of me a lot more than the rest of them, because I was a 5'2", 100 lb. girl. On a swim team. It was incredibly ironic.

 

"You know, Nat, you complain a lot" Haru laughed at me from the water, before splashing me with a swipe of his hand.

 

"I told you not to call me that! And you'd be complaining too if you weren't allowed to swim on a day like this. Or any day. You're basically a mermaid." I wiped the droplets water off of my face and laughed, picturing him with a tail.

 

"Like that one hasn't been used before. And Nat is easier to say than Natsumi." He said this very matter-of-factly and I had to roll my eyes.

 

"Hey new girl! Keep running! Or I'll make you run  _again_ tomorrow instead of swimming." Rin had just reappeared from the locker room, in his swimsuit. Looks like everyone was swimming today except me. 

 

"Oh come on Rin! I've been doing laps all of practice! And it's the perfect day to swim. Plus I'm going to have a hard time competing next month if you don't allow me to practice." I gave him my signature puppy dog eyes, hoping it would work.

 

"Okay, tell you what. If you can run five laps around the courtyard in under two and a half minutes, you won't need to run anymore except on team running days. You up for it? If you can't, you'll run the rest of the week." He grinned, thinking I wouldn't take the offer. I despised running laps.

 

I couldn't refuse the offer. It was only Tuesday, so if I couldn't beat the time, I would have one hell of a week ahead of me. But the thought of not having to run anymore by myself fueled my brain to accept his challenge. "Sounds good to me."

 

Rin had pulled out his stopwatch, and told me to get ready. I was more than ready, like 38 laps more than ready. "1-2-3" He blew his whistle and I bolted. I don't think I've ever run that fast in my life. It made me nervous that he didn't call my time as I went around and around. Two and a half minutes for five laps. That was 30 seconds per lap. My average on a good day was 40. As I made it to the last lap, I pushed myself to go for a dead sprint. My legs were on fire. Not in the literal sense, but pretty damn close. As I passed Rin on the last lap, I saw no expression in his face telling me my fate of the single person race. Like usual, the guy was like a cement wall. 

 

"So...?" I was bouncing on my tiptoes, awaiting his response.

"How the hell did you manage this?" Rin held up his watch, which was blank. "It stopped before your fourth lap. At 1:43."

I was positive I was back to doing laps again. The watch had stopped, and that meant nobody knew my time, which meant I could have lost. It also means I could have won, but Rin was not on this optimistic side. I sighed and jogged back to where I started, preparing for him to tell me to start running again. 

"What are you doing? Since we have no evidence that you didn't make the time or not, it could be very well possible that you did. So I guess that also means that you don't need to run by yourself anymore." He smiled and gave a little laugh "I was actually planning that tomorrow you would start training with the rest of us for the competition anyways, so it didn't really make a difference."

"So you made me run my heart out for nothing?"

"No, it was to see if you could take a challenge. There was determination in your eyes as you ran, which is a good thing. You will need that spirit if you want to compete, especially against the opposite gender." 

To be honest, I didn't actually care that he did that to me. I understood why, but I was just glad I could swim with the rest of the team at practice now. I unzipped my hoodie and threw it on the bench. I grabbed the goggles from my bag, put them on, and dived into the water. " I think you should have tested my determination in other ways than running. Running sucks." I jokingly told Rin. The water felt great, so smooth and gentle against my skin. 

Rin laughed and walked to the edge of the pool. "Maybe I was hoping that with all the stretching of your legs it required you would get taller. Short people may be faster with smaller steps, but they can't always compare to a long stride."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comments!!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work! Let me know what you think!


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